Another long long long needed catch up yesterday with a good friend who I met when our eldest girls learned to baby sign fifteen years ago. We normally meet as three families (3 mums, 8 kids and sometimes an extra 3 husbands) but that’s not allowed so I’ve met the two families separately this holiday and both events (well I mean walks obviously) have been so lovely. I sometimes wonder whether these snippets of life should be blogged about. Certainly it wasn’t the sort of day where a hilarious or dramatic encounter occurred so you may think not.

The older girls are all taller than us. The youngest was 6 when I last saw her, and is now a very chatty funny 7 year old. We walked along the river and talked. We played pooh sticks at every available bridge. We ate sandwiches and accidentally dropped a pork pie. We stopped walking every time we saw a solitary duck to give them some lunch because I’d remembered to bring duck food so was determined to throw it somewhere. We bought ice creams and crossed stepping stones. The kids threw rocks into the water. We watched a man in a wet suit going in and out of the river with no clue what he was doing it for and then avoided the slimy clay he left on the path in his wake. We just mooched and caught up and that was wonderful.

So there is nothing spectacular about days like these but I think they are worthy of note. Every time we meet the kids have grown and hit a new set of milestones, and yet every time is like the one before. Falling into step. Something we’ve always done.

When we left my 7 year old friend came and stood very close to me and looked a little downcast. I came to understand it was her pandemic related hug. I couldn’t hug her or my friend goodbye. So the same as always but subtly different. Oh when will this all be over?